First-degree murder charge in shooting will go to trial

EVERETT — It should be up to a jury to decide whether a Tulalip-area man exhibited “extreme indifference to human life” when he began shooting a handgun into a car during a fatal July 2012 confrontation at Blue Stilly Park in Arlington, a Snohomish County judge ruled Friday.

There is too much disagreement about what happened the evening Ryan Mumm died to grant a defense motion and rule before trial on the appropriateness of the first-degree murder charge brought against Dennis Watters Jr., Superior Court Judge Michael Downes said.

“There are material facts all over the place in this case which are disputed,” Downes said after listening to lawyers argue about the case Friday morning.

Watters, 42, is scheduled to go on trial next week. He contends he acted in self-defense when he fired a 9mm handgun into a car where Mumm, 20, was a passenger.

The gunfire broke out at the park along the Stillaguamish River when two groups of people converged to settle a dispute over money owed for a small amount of marijuana.

Watters went to the park that night after agreeing to back up a friend who claimed his daughter had been assaulted by people who were Mumm’s friends.

During the confrontation, Mumm reportedly fired more than one shot into the air. When questioned by detectives, Watters insisted Mumm pointed the gun at him and fired from the passenger seat of a BMW as he passed by Watters’ pickup truck.

Watters fired three rounds into the car. He also admitted that he followed after the BMW and tried to bump it off the road. Mumm died from a gunshot wound to his head.